


first tryst

by merriell



Series: antarlina (e) [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Flirting, M/M, high school era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-12 02:16:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19938481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merriell/pseuds/merriell
Summary: 2013. Basketball game always tired him out, made him crave water, but the match had been inside someone else's school, and Kinan can't seem to find something to absolve him from thirst.He received one from the most unexpected places.





	first tryst

**Author's Note:**

> Already posted. Translation of another fic.

**JAKARTA**

The noon was filled with sweat, the sound of basketball bouncing against the green concrete, and the buzz of anti-magic spell tightly installed at every corner of the basketball field. Every magic left a scent in the air, even amidst the smell of the sun and sweat around them. The spell around him had smelled like a mix between _cananga_ and sandalwood in Kinan’s nose when someone from the opposing team cornered him aggressively to the edge of the field. It reminded him to the calm air of Ubud noon, which he missed terribly.

The tall figure of the man with long tied up hair crouched down, dodging and manouvering between muscular bodies around him before he took a graceful three-point shot into the ring, two seconds before the whistle rang in the air. The crowd, opposing team and his supporters alike, roared into a loud cheer.

_PRIT_!

He tried to catch his breath as he straightened his spine. His gaze sweeped around him: the opposing team’s supporter overpowered his team’s by quantity, and they yelled in disappointment once they realized that Kinan’s team scores beat out theirs, quite severely. His team crowded around him, offering him congratulations and embracing him. Kinan laughed at the blatant flex of the cheering, proudly boasting of the difference on their scores. They shouldn't be doing that, really. Quite rude to the opposing team.

“Christ, I’m fucking _pleased_ that the committee decided to install anti-magic spells around us! Do you see how they’re looking at us? I feel like they’re considering eating us for dinner,” Theodore said as the celebratory yell subsided. Theo, despite always fleeing from practice to switch from their center into the lead baritone in their school choir, was one of the best players in their team. “I fucking told y’all that the winner’s prize is making the competition a bit excessive.”

Kinan shook his head hearing that. “It’s fine. It’s our risk, after all, we’re playing on their territory.”

“10 million as a prize is not nothing, Nan."

“For our school prince, I’m sure that’s practically nothing,” a low voice interrupted from behind them. It had no poison inside it, simply teasing.

Kinan turned and grinned at once when he realized that his best friend was following their conversation. Although their supporters was tiny in comparison of the opposing team, the applause from their friends who went with them had been as loud, if not louder, than the other team. Girindra Wardhana, a Javanese young man with buzzcut, embraced Kinan from the side. Kinan knocked their head together, earning a grin from him. Despite the humid air between them, Giri was still wearing his trademark ripped acid wash denim. Kinan was pretty sure he even enchanted it so he could wear it without being too hot.

“Money is never ’nothing’,” replied Kinan.

“Yeah, right.” 

“Did Antariksa not come?” Theo asked from beside them. 

“Anta? No, I think he has tutoring today. By the way, Anna is looking for you. I think she’s horny watching you sweat or something,” Giri pointed behind him, where a girl with long dyed brown hair waved from the audience seats. Theo left them at once to approach his girlfriend, leaving Kinan and Giri by themselves. Giri seemed to watch Theo for a moment before turning his attention back to Kinan. “Aren’t you tired?"

“Mm?” 

“Don’t you have Student Council activity tomorrow?”

“Used to it,” Kinan shrugged dismissively. 

“I don’t want to see you faint like last year.” 

“Gir,” he interrupted. “Hav'a drink?”

“Yeah, but it’s Coke."

“Ugh. Pass.”

“I’ll buy one for you?” Giri offered. Without waiting for Kinan to answer, he left to get Kinan a drink.

Kinan, all by himself, looked around him. Several pair of eyes are focused on him, stroking every inch of his body like he was an auction item. He only sighed and ignored it. He was used with the kind of attention. Some of those stares felt sharp, as they might have been angry to lose out on a large sum of money. He searched for a place to sit. He might even close his eyes for a few seconds as he tries to avoid the gazes that were starting to make him uncomfortable.

He found a seating area under a shade of a tree that didn’t have that many people. He was going to sit and fix the loose bun on the back of his head when he noticed that another boy, probably the same age of him, was already standing under the tree. His uniform was the same as most people around them; he must have been a student. Kinan was unhappy to search for another place, but he was already searching when the other boy coughed, attracting his attention.

“Kinan Raka Mahardika?”

He stopped, one of his brows raising. He didn’t often hear people beside his parents say his middle name, let alone someone he didn’t know. “Yes?” he answered reluctantly. It was at this moment he truly paid attention to the boy. He was slender, black hair cropped neatly as common high school rules dictated, contrast against Kinan’s long hair (allowed in his school due to his achievements). There was a bottle of water in his hand, still dripping water to the ground from the cold.

“Thirsty?” The boy threw said bottle to his direction. Though he didn’t expect it, Kinan managed to catch it with his right hand, his basketball reflexes not letting him down. The cold from the bottle wormed to his palm, making him thirstier. But he didn’t open it. Instead, he squinted at it, confused.

He was going to say something, a question, perhaps, but the boy was already walking away. “Hey! Wait!” The boy stopped but didn’t turn to him. _Rude_. “Thank you very much, uh..."

“Look, it’s not a big deal.”

“You know that I’m thirsty,” Kinan said, not wanting to let the boy go just yet. “Don’t say you’re one of those people whose families can read minds…”

“No. I just know things. Do you mind? I need to go back to class,” the boy answered disinterestedly. He turned slightly to Kinan, and Kinan was just realizing that the boy was one of those rare people in this school whose Middle Eastern features was thick, as if his family spent their time intra-marrying people with the same ethnicity, unlike most whose features was slowly disappearing due to marrying locals. One of those _pure_ families, he guessed. 

“What’s your name?”

“What do you need it for?”

“If we meet again—“

“It's Moreno,” the boy answered quickly.

“Moreno,” Kinan tasted the name in his lips. It made him sound like he was from a country of avant-garde fashion and not one with sand and bright sun. “Nice to meet you, Moreno.”

A faint scoff was heard from the boy before he left, for real this time, disappearing into a crowd of girls that he didn’t realize was there, checking him out. They didn't even pay attention as he walked between them, but Kinan did. He was still staring even as he didn't have a thing to stare at anymore. Kinan was left behind with only the dewy cold bottle in his hand. There was no notes or compliments; what was left was a name that tasted cold in his tongue.

“Nan?”

He turned around. Giri was back. He had the same bottled water in his hand. “Oh, thanks,” he said, out of manners than gratefulness. His mind was still thinking about the dark irises under the shade of the tree.

“Where did you get that?” Giri nodded at the bottle in his hand. “So, you don’t need this one, huh?”

“I’ll need both, don't worry. Someone from here gave me a drink.”

“Pretty?” Giri asked, _typical_.

Kinan smiled at the direction of the leaves above him. “Pretty... interesting,” he replied, not really interested in sharing. Those dark eyes felt like his, not other people’s—regardless of how much he cared about his best friend. “Ugh, I want to shower. My body feels so sticky.”

"Jesus, you're such a fucking princess," Giri replied, but with fondness inside it.


End file.
